01 February 2014

Family History Writing Challenge

This is my second time participating in this yearly challenge. This year I want to write a bit on two of my favorite families - the Toneys and the Storms (I'm doing two because I couldn't decide on one).

Caesar Toney and Primus Storms are my 5th great grandfathers. Without them, I wouldn't be me. I don't know as much as I'd like to about them but what I do know, you'll soon know as well.

In a tiny cemetery in Basin Harbor, VT, four headstones stand together at the end of a row. One headstone reads "Primus Storms died May 23, 1842 aged 107 years." Also in the row are Primus' wife, Parmelia, and their daughters, Parmelia Langley and Susannah Storms. As far as anyone knows, they are the only African-Americans buried in that cemetery.

Local Addison County, VT history tells the story of Platt Rogers who journeyed to the Vermont side of Lake Champlain and started the town of Basin Harbor. Rogers, a Revolutionary War veteran, traveled from his home in Fishkill, NY, part of Duchess County. Besides settling Basin Harbor, he also created roads between the towns of Ferrisburgh, Vergennes and Panton, VT and ran a ferry that crossed to Lake Champlain's New York side.

Rogers arrived in Vermont in 1789, bringing with him a female slave, "Millie" (Parmelia Storms). Parmelia's formerly enslaved husband, Primus Storms and their children followed Rogers to Vermont. The local story is that Primus worked for Rogers for a set number of years in exchange for freedom for his wife and children and a plot of land. I'm not sure about that story because slavery was abolished in Vermont in 1777. It may be that Primus worked for Rogers in exchange for the land only.

Primus and Parmelia settled in Panton, VT, just a short walk from Basin Harbor. Primus built a home and planted an apple orchard. In later years, the orchard became known as Nig*** Orchard. Primus and Parmelia had five sons and two daughters. All lived, worked and died in Vermont. Most of their grandchildren, however, left Vermont before 1900 and settled in Massachusetts and New York.

I know little about Primus' early years. The owner of the Basin Harbor Club (where the cemetery is located) told me that Primus served General George Washington during Washington's New York campaign in the Revolutionary War. I do know that there was a wealthy landowning (and possibly slave-owning) family named Storms in Fishkill, NY during the mid to late 1700s. It's possible that Primus was once owned by the Fishkill Storms.

I think it's remarkable that a man of color lived to be over 100 years old in nineteen century Vermont. That alone testifies to what an extraordinary man he must have been. On a recent trip to Panton and Basin Harbor, my boss (who happens to own the land once owned by Platt Rogers) and I went to the old Nig*** Orchard and discovered an old cellar hole. She thinks the stones on the cellar hole are arranged similar to the ones in the old "Homestead" in Basin Harbor - a building thought to have been built by Primus. Here's a picture of the cellar hole-

I have land deeds in my Storms files and I will check to make certain that this is the right cellar hole. I had been searching for this for a while and we ended up finding the cellar hole about 30 yards from where I last looked.

So this is my first installment for this year's challenge. See you tomorrow!

I stumbled across your blog after googling Nipmuc Nation and I am a Toney descendent from Worcester. Are they the same family? I am going to spend my last hour at work reading your posts. This is amazing.

Hi Cherll, I'm Platt Rogers Safford. I'm named after my Great Grandfather, Platt Rogers. His Great Grandfather was the Platt Rogers who is memorialized at the Basin Harbor Yacht Club. I have an old family bible that takes me back to Ananias Rogers, Platt's son born in 1792, but I have no real info on Platt. Can you point me in any direction?

About Me

Cheryll Toney Holley, proprietor of PastTense Genealogy, is a professional researcher and writer specializing in African-American and Native American peoples in New England. For over fifteen years,she has compiled genealogies and written family histories for descendants of New England'scommunities of color. A trained historian, she also directs the Hassanamisco Indian Museum locatedin Grafton, Massachusetts.